Brisbane Roar Women have been defeated 4-2 by Sydney FC Women in a six goal thriller at Ballymore Stadium.
After losing last year-s grand final to the Sky Blues, the Roar were keen to extract revenge against their old rivals but made it difficult for themselves early, conceding a goal in the sixth minute.
Sydney-s Kyah Simon, who had already tested Roar custodian Casey Dumont with a shot on target, charged into the penalty box.
When the Brisbane defence failed to properly deal with the threat, the ball fell to her captain Heather Garriock who slotted it home neatly from the edge of the area.
The home side were not content sitting back and had their equaliser just eight minutes later through Tameka Butt.
Receiving the ball outside the penalty box, the lively midfielder took the matters into her own hands and hitting a left-footed effort which took a slight deflection to lob over Dimi Poulos in the Sydney goal to level the score.
Simon put a swerving cross into the box, and when Dumont did well to punch it away, Sydney-s Teresa Polias was quickest to react and rattled the upright with her powerful shot.
Dumont was again in the thick of the action minutes later, when Garriock sent another long-range effort goal-ward but the 18-year-old shotstopper pulled off an impressive, last-gasp save to keep Brisbane in the contest.
However, Dumont-s efforts were not enough and Sydney soon had two goals in quick succession before the half time break.
Sky Blue Renee Rollason found the far post in the 33rd minute – however it looked as though she handled the ball in the lead-up to the goal – before teammate Simon extended their lead three minutes later after a well-placed through ball from Kylie Ledbrook.
Brisbane coach Jeff Hopkins looked to make amends, replacing right-back Brooke Spence with striker Amy Chapman, but it wasn-t enough to salvage anything before halftime.
The start of the second half saw the introduction of Brisbane attacker Emily Gielnik, who made an immediate impact down the left wing, but it was Lana Harch who managed to reduce the deficit for the Roar.
Just four minutes after the restart, Harch netted an early contender for goal of the season, unleashing a 35 metre scorcher into the top corner of the net to bring the vocal Ballymore crowd to their feet.
The goal seemed to motivate Brisbane, but they fell victim to another Heather Garriock goal within five minutes.
The Sydney skipper, exploiting slight indecision within the Brisbane defence, was played in by Simon and hit the ball past Dumont at the near post to extend the away side-s lead to two goals once more.
Both sides continued to press for goals as the game continued but the home side were dealt a blow when playmaker Tameka Butt suffered an injury and had to be replaced by Alicia Foote.
While Harch, Gielnik and Foote all looked lively in the final third, Brisbane were unable to find another goal and the match ended 4-2 in favour of the visitors.
Post-match, coach Hopkins said he was disappointed in the result, saying the effort of his players was just not enough to match a strong Sydney side.
“I-m really disappointed actually, I had high hopes for today and we didn-t really deliver,” he said.
“We were lacking ideas going forward, our play wasn-t cohesive and it didn-t really have any real tempo to it.
“Let-s give them credit, they played very well and they looked very sharp.”
Brisbane Roar Women (Tameka Butt 14-)
Sydney FC Women (Heather Garriock 6-, 54-, Renee Rollason 33-, Kyah Simon 36-)
Saturday, 6 November 2010
Ballymore Stadium, Brisbane
Referee: Jacqui Melksham
Crowd: 1,093
Brisbane Roar Women line-up: 1. Casey DUMONT (gk), 2. Laura ALLEWAY, 3. Karla REUTER, 4. Clare POLKINGHORNE (c), 5. Brooke SPENCE (14. Amy CHAPMAN 39-), 6. Joanne BURGESS (17. Emily GIELNIK 45-), 7. Kim CARROLL, 8. Elise KELLOND-KNIGHT, 10. Lana HARCH, 11. Aivi LUIK, 13. Tameka BUTT (9. Alicia FOOTE 72-)
Substitutes Not Used: 20. Kate STEWART
Yellow Cards: Amy CHAPMAN 89-
Red Cards: Nil
Sydney FC Women line-up: 1. Dimi POULOS (gk), 2. Teresa POLIAS, 3. Danielle BROGAN, 7. Heather GARRIOCK (c) (13. Catherine CANULLI 62-), 8. Renee ROLLASON (16. Linda O-NEILL 89-), 9. Caitlin FOORD, 10. Kylie LEDBROOK, 11. Lydia VANDENBERGH, 15. Teigan ALLEN, 17. Kyah SIMON, 19. Leena KHAMIS (4. Alesha CLIFFORD 76-)
Substitutes Not Used: 20. Erik HERD (gk)
Yellow Cards: Danielle BROGAN 76-, Teigan ALLEN 90-
Red Cards: Nil
